1. Technical Field
The embodiments described herein relate generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device and associated method that provides for the automatic selection of an input language based upon a particular selected contact.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices include and provide access to a wide range of integrated applications, including, without limitation, email, telephone, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), browser, calendar and address book applications, such that a user can easily manage information and communications from a single, integrated device. These applications are typically selectively accessible and executable through a user interface that allows a user to easily navigate among and within these applications.
Such handheld electronic devices typically include a number of tools that facilitate the input of text information, such as when a user is composing an email message. For example, many handheld electronic devices include spell checking and/or grammar checking functionality that help users to correct spelling and/or grammar errors made by the user while inputting text. In addition, handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable, and thus efforts have been made to provide handheld electronic devices with progressively smaller form factors. One way in which to reduce the form factor of handheld electronic devices is to provide a “reduced keyboard” in which multiple letters, symbols, and/or digits are assigned to any given key (e.g., a reduced QWERTY keyboard). Since a single actuation of a key in a “reduced keyboard” potentially could be intended by the user to refer to any of the symbols thereon, the input (by actuation of the key) generally is an ambiguous input and is in need of some type of disambiguation in order to be useful for text entry purposes. Numerous keystroke interpretation systems have been proposed for this purpose, an example of which is a software-based text disambiguation function. In such a system, a user typically presses keys to which one or more characters have been assigned, generally pressing each key one time for each desired letter, symbol, or digit, and the disambiguation software attempts to predict the intended input. One example of such a system is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/931,281, entitled “Handheld Electronic Device with Text Disambiguation.”
As will be appreciated, spell and grammar checking systems and software-based text disambiguation systems are language dependent. Since it is possible that users of handheld electronic devices may want to communicate, and thus input text, in a number of different languages, many handheld electronic devices are provided with spell and grammar checking systems and/or software-based text disambiguation systems that facilitate the entry of text in different languages. In order to facilitate the selective use of different languages, handheld electronic devices are typically provided with a language mode selection option wherein a user selects the current input language for the device, and thereafter all text input is in the chosen language and the spell and grammar checking system and/or software-based text disambiguation system of the handheld electronic device will function accordingly. As will be appreciated, users typically communicate with a given contact in a particular language. Thus, if a user desires to send an email message to a contact that speaks French, the user can place the handheld electronic device in the French language mode, and then begin composing a new email message in French. This is typically done by accessing an options menu and selecting or inputting the desired language.
The approach just described presents a number of problems. First, it requires a number of affirmative steps prior to composing the new email message, which the user may either initially forget to perform (the user will, for example, begin inputting text in French while the device is still in the English language mode) or which, in the least, are time consuming and inconvenient. Also, when the user is finished composing the message, he or she must take additional affirmative steps to switch the language mode back to the desired normal (default) mode that the user prefers. Again, these steps are time consuming and inconvenient, and, in some cases, the user may forget to perform them such that the next time the desires to input text, the device will still be in the previously selected, non-default language mode. Thus, there is a need for a system for automatically selecting an input language for a handheld electronic device that eliminates these problems.